Australia’s $368 billion AUKUS nuclear submarine program might be costing taxpayers an arm and a leg, but at least the Royal Australian Navy’s captains skippering the new hunter-killer boats will be able to legitimately boast they drive the world’s biggest Rolls-Royce for a day job.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed the attack submarines, designated SSN-AUKUS, will sport Spirit of Ecstasy-built powerplants, as key suppliers in the multinational boatbuilding alliance secured the first tranche of supply contracts worth £4 billion.
The contracts, handed to hardware engineering shop Babcock and military systems builder BAE (previously known as British Aerospace) as well as Rolls-Royce, set up and secured the complex supply chain needed for the SSN-AUKUS build that needs to be put in place decades in advance.
Dubbed the ‘Detailed Design and Long Leads (D2L2) Phase’ of the SSN-AUKUS build, the deals are essentially a down payment to secure the pipeline of key parts and capabilities, including workforce, needed to get the new nuclear boatyard up and running once the final Astute Class boat is built and the “Dreadnought programme” — the replacement strategic nuclear missile deterrence platform — kicks-in.
“Building on more than 60 years of British expertise in designing, building and operating nuclear-powered submarines, the D2L2 contracts will support thousands of highly skilled jobs in the UK — a clear demonstration of how the AUKUS programme supports the Prime Minister’s priority to grow the economy,” the MoD said in a statement.
“Alongside the design development and long-lead procurement, infrastructure at the submarine shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness and the nuclear reactor manufacturing site in Raynesway, Derby will be developed and expanded where needed to meet the requirement of the future submarine build programme.”
Britain is aiming to have the first AKUS subs in the water in the late 2030s to start replacing the Astute class, with Australia now in the process of setting up its own AUKUS boatyard here to start making Australia’s fleet aiming for delivery in the 2040s.
In the interim, Australia will operate US-built Virginia Class nuclear submarines that are now both in active operation and production.
Rolls-Royce was widely expected to be named the nuclear power plant supplier for the SSN-AUKUS, having manufactured the Royal Navy’s marine reactors for the 60 years since the switch was made from diesel.
The US Navy no longer operates conventionally-powered combat submarines or aircraft carriers, having retired the last conventional supercarrier, USS Kitty Hawk, in 2009 after 46 years of service.
Rolls-Royce’s atomic ambitions do not stop at submarines. The power technology and luxury carmaker is spearheading the UK’s push to develop the Small Modular Reactor market that uses smaller pre-built fission units to generate electricity and is being backed by both the UK government and the Qatar Investment Authority, the state’s sovereign wealth fund.
The Small Modular Reactor solution is being pushed as an alternative to fossil fuel power generation and as a complement to renewable energy generation to cut carbon emissions.
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